Tristan Mananghaya, 38, who witnesses said was part of a team moving a large cooling unit, was hit just before 11 a.m. on the sidewalk at Grand Concourse and East 173rd Street, at the edge of Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, the FDNY said.

A crane was moving the cooling unit when the crane's chain broke and the machinery plummeted to the ground, police said.

Mananghaya, a Jersey City, N.J. resident, was taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Bronx-Lebanon officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Joseph Contreras said he was outside smoking a cigarette awaiting the birth of his child in the hospital when he saw a crane moving what appeared to be a large refrigerator unit give way and fall on the worker.

"It was just a snap and then the ground shook like an earthquake," said Contreras, 22. "You could hear all the workers saying, 'Get him out of there, hurry, get him out,' but it was too late. He was completely crushed."

Contreras said it took paramedics about an hour to lift the heavy unit, and that Mananghaya appeared lifeless when he was finally pulled out.

"The only movement I saw were his legs dangling," Contreras said. "His legs [were] crushed, his chest completely dented in. It was shocking."

The worker was standing directly under the unit when it fell, Contreras said.

"People were screaming at him to get out of the way and to move the crane, but it's just I don't think he saw it," Contreras said. "He took one step back when it was leaning over the ledge and that was it."

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